Italy: Naples and Pompeii

Naples

After our quick rendezvous with London we decided to go south where it was still beach season- to the land of sunshine, beaches, pasta, and gelato- Italia.

Ahhh Italia! We love Italy – with out a doubt one of our favorite countries.  I would go so far as to say it is in my top 3 countries that I’ve been to. We were both super excited to go back and see some new places we’ve never been, as well as visit a few favorites.

First stop was Naples.  We needed to go through Naples to get to Pompeii, Capri and the Amalfi Coast, so it made sense to start there. Naples doesn’t quite match the romantic depiction that one might have of Italy.  The crown jewel here is pizza, and it’s a great jumping point to nearby sites. It is grimy, dirty, and sketchy- you need to watch your pockets, money and bags.  Josh had been before so we knew this going into it, but it still shocked me how many piles of trash there were as we walked around the city’s streets, with stray packs of dogs lingering everywhere. Arriving in the evening and not being sure where our place was made me extremely happy to have Josh by my side as we trekked through the train station, metros, and then streets, to find our Airbnb.  We got a little lost looking for our Airbnb.  We found someone to help point us in the right direction of our unnamed street and got there after about an hour of walking. I was elated to take my 20lb bag off my back and relax! And to go find some pizza!  We walked a few blocks and found a local pizzeria nearby our place that was pretty hoppin’ even at 10:30pm, so we decided that this was the place to go. And it did not disappoint.

I had the best pizza of my life at this place! It looked like a calzone, with ricotta, ham and fresh mozzarella inside it, with a light dusting of tomato sauce. Heaven.  Along with that we also got some delicious pesto gnocchi, which was homemade and melted in my mouth. The only other pizza that could compare for Josh was one he had a couple years back, also in Naples. They definitely know how to make a good pie. We relaxed and relished in the fact that we had finally arrived and were satisfied. Our Airbnb in Naples worked out fine for the short time we were there, but it left much to be desired. It wasn’t up to par with other places we’d stayed at for its same price. But it was close to a metro stop, which was nice because we used the metro a lot to commute to the train station.

Pompeii

The next morning we grabbed some fruit and yogurt from a local stand, then headed to the train station to figure out how to get to Pompeii.  There are several types of trains and busses in Italy, so it took us a bit to figure the best way to get there, but we ended up on a bus that dropped us off direct for a great price.  Pompeii definitely exceeded my expectations.  Josh had been once before, but I hadn’t and was super excited to see the remains and learn about what happened there so long ago.

Pompeii was an ancient Roman city that was destroyed and buried under 13-20 feet of ash and pumice when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. It was hidden under the ash until 1599 when it was rediscovered, and has become a tourist destination for the last 250 years, allowing us to see the preserved ruins that were excavated during its rediscovery. Of the historic ruins we have seen before, this was unique because so much had been preserved under the ash.  You could even see plaster casts that had been made which filled the voids in the ash that once held human bodies. It was very surreal.

We walked all through the streets of Pompeii and went into the buildings still intact today, and it was interesting.  Throughout our whole walk in Pompeii’s ruins, the massive mountain of Mt. Vesuvius was lurking in the background.  It looked pretty epic, and I knew that we had to hike up the top of it to see the crater.

Prior to leaving for our trip we knew we wanted to see Vesuvius, but after arriving and seeing the massive damage it created over a span of two thousand years, we knew we had to go to the top. So after leaving Pompeii we walked over to find a bus that took us into the Vesuvius National Park.

Vesuvius National Park is a new park that was founded in 1995. What an awesome experience it was! Initially we thought that you did a day hike up the whole mountain, but quickly learned that this isn’t possible. You are loaded into a bus and driven with a group up part of the mountain to another area, then you switch and re-load into a more durable four wheel drive vehicle for another 45min up the mountain.  Quite a bumpy ride! It takes you about 75% of the way to the top of the mountain.  From there you hike about a mile to get to the top.  The view from the top is incredible!  You can see the ocean, Naples, Capri, Pompeii, the entire area where the volcano erupted most recently in 1906, and the original ring of the even larger volcano remains that erupted in 79 AD (the Somma caldera). It was breathtaking, and really cool to be able to look down into the remains of where it erupted. They have guides at the top who point out where the different panoramic points are at and give details around the history, which made it even better. Mt. Vesuvius was busy but much less touristy than Pompeii, and definitely one of the best views I’ve seen.  We loved it!

Check out some pictures: